The Courtship of Eva Eldridge

A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage Mad Fifties

By: Diane Simmons

Narrated by: Kimberly Conwell

Everyone got married in the 1950s, then started to produce the soon-to-be-famous baby boom. For Americans who had survived the Great Depression and World War II, prosperous married life was a triumph. The unwed were objects of pity, scorn, even suspicion. Women over twenty-three were consider old maids.

But Eva Eldridge— who’d left the farm for a job in a wartime shipyard where she made a hasty and disastrous marriage—finds herself left out. Now in her thirties and marginally employed, she is the perfect target for handsome Vick, who promises everything: storybook romance, marital respectability, and the lively social life Eva loves. When he disappears not long after their honeymoon, she is devastated.

Refusing to believe her adoring husband has abandoned her, Eva sets about tracking down a man who, she now believes, was more damaged by wartime trauma than she knew. But instead of a wounded hero, she finds a long string of women much like herself—hard-working, intelligent women who had loved and married Vick and now had no idea where—or even who—he was.

Drawing on a trove of some eight hundred letters and papers, Diane Simmons tells the story of Eva’s poignant struggle to get her dream husband back, as well as the stories of the women who had stood at the altar with Vick before and after her. Eva’s remarkable life illuminates women’s struggle for happiness at a time of social change, when marriage—and the perfect husband—meant everything.

©2015 University of Iowa Press (P)2024 Diane Simmons

Great

The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is the kind of audiobook that stays with you long after it’s over. Diane Simmons takes a real-life story and turns it into an immersive journey through the 1950s – a time when marriage was seen as the be-all and end-all for women. Eva Eldridge’s life, full of love, betrayal, and heartbreak, reflects the weight of those expectations in a society obsessed with the ideal of marriage. Simmons’ writing stands out because she effortlessly draws you into Eva’s personal drama while also making you think about the bigger societal issues at play.

Kimberly Conwell’s narration is great! You feel like you’re walking alongside Eva, experiencing her highs and lows. Conwell doesn’t just tell Eva’s story, she brings out the emotion in every moment without overplaying it, which makes the whole experience feel so much more intimate and real. Her voice carries both the vulnerability and strength in Eva’s character, and that balance really resonated with me. It’s the kind of performance that makes you forget you’re listening to an audiobook – you’re just living the story.

One of the things I appreciated most about The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is how Simmons uses Eva’s life to touch on broader themes that still feel relevant today. You can sense the pressure on Eva to conform to what society expected of her, and the consequences of stepping outside those lines. Diane Simmons handles this with so much empathy, never casting judgment on Eva or the women of her time, but instead giving us a nuanced look at the impossible choices they faced.

The audiobook format really elevates the whole experience. Kimberly Conwell’s narration brings depth to the historical context, making it easier to connect with Eva’s personal struggles while also understanding the larger societal pressures.

If you enjoy stories that blend personal drama with historical insight, The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is a must-listen. It’s a deeply human story about a woman trying to find her way in a world that expected her to fit a mold. It left me thinking about how far we’ve come, and how stories like Eva’s still resonate today